Charter flights from China to Da Nang resume as sea tensions ebb

Chinese charter flights to the central resort town of Da Nang resumed on July 18 after a hiatus caused by Vietnam-China tensions in the East Sea, a tourism official said.

Chinese tourists at Da Nang International Airport.

Tran Chi Cuong, deputy director of the Da Nang’s municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon there are now two flights a week from Hangzhou to Da Nang.

Flights from Xi’an, Kunming and Chengdu to Da Nang will resume on August 7, August 17 and August 18, respectively, Cuong said.

Cuong added that other air routes will resume by the end of the year.

China is a leading international feeder market for Da Nang; around 100,000 Chinese tourists traveled to the city last year, mostly via charter flights.

After China illegally placed a drilling rig in Vietnamese waters on May 2, tensions between the two countries flared. Chinese travel firms suspended their charter flights to Da Nang on May 23, leading to a sharp decrease in room bookings for the beach town’s hotels and resorts.

On July 16, China moved the rig out of Vietnamese waters.

According to the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, around 1.8 million tourist arrivals to Da Nang were recorded in the first half of this year, up 15.8 percent annually.